(Image: Tom Red/Private Media)

The world may be on the brink of war and in an uncertain recovery from the pandemic. The nation is midway through a federal election campaign where economic management, national security and integrity in public life are rightly centre stage.

So why do some people want to stop candidates and parties doing what they’ve always done — whacking election posters on a vacant pole or bridge? Talk about sweating the small stuff.

In Wentworth — once considered unlosable for the Liberal Party — poster wars have escalated dramatically in recent days. It’s not just candidate against candidate and supporter against supporter in this war. The owner of the public property — mainly electricity poles — is not happy.

Ausgrid, with its 1.3 million customers, has reminded “all political candidates and their staff not to attach campaign material to electrical assets”. It asks that posters-on-poles lawbreakers be dobbed in by calling 13 13 65.

This might sound like small stuff, but of course sometimes the small stuff opens a window to bigger issues. We gain insight into what to expect on the important by looking at form on the relatively unimportant.

The criminal justice system does this all the time.

Throw into this mix one of the most frequent but unedifying messages in politics: “Yes, we did it but the other side did it first and for longer than we did”. As though the precedent and duration of wrongdoing justifies further wrongdoing.

In this case the “it” is election posters on public property.

The Climate 200/Voices Of/teal candidate for Wentworth Allegra Spender has fallen into this trap hook, line and sinker by saying: “I note there are many other candidates in Wentworth and across Sydney who are doing exactly the same as our campaign.”

There are also plenty of drivers running red lights.

Put another way, to hark back to a good old childhood lesson: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

It’s the same as raising obscene amounts of money to fund what is meant to be a local, grassroots campaign. Simon Holmes à Court is on the record as saying Climate 200 “does what is required by the AEC when it comes to disclosure”. That bit of double-speak is the very rationale that has debauched political fundraising in Australia.

There is no escaping the fact that those who advocate most about integrity will encounter greater scrutiny. And so they should — as the Catholic Church discovered with institutionalised child sexual abuse.

Back to posters on poles.

OK. I need to fess up, again. I’m a guilty party from my own days in politics. Making sure the electorate was awash with corflutes was a widely accepted part of the campaigning cold war.

But here’s the rub. First, it’s illegal, at least on public property. Ausgrid and other public authorities are unambiguous. Ausgrid has been busy removing posters around the eastern suburbs. Thank you to Ausgrid customers who ultimately pick up the tab!

Nanny state do I hear you say? Well, maybe, but looking more closely, not really.

Many of us have crusaded against red tape and regulation in our private and public sector careers. Often those crusades run aground, not because we suddenly love red tape and regulation but because we find legitimate safety, competition and aesthetic reasons that make some annoying rules reasonable. It’s the old story: these things are not as simple as we would like them to be to justify our initial, knee-jerk objections.

This takes us to the pointy end of the boilover surrounding election posters and outdoor advertising generally.

Outdoor advertising is highly regulated, from the small sign on a corner deli through to massive billboards on metropolitan, regional and rural sites. Getting signs approved, especially in the first place, is a play that is not for the faint-hearted. Consent can take years and involve departments and agencies across three tiers of government.

Once approved, those assets can become lucrative, tradable investments, notwithstanding onerous and continuous compliance requirements. Outdoor advertising is well represented in the fine print of the current Australian rich list.

Everything from bus stops to taxi backs and garbage bins have been monetised through mainly quality advertising on many quality installations. And we get nice bus stops and rubbish bins to boot. Win win, as they say.

Say what we will about red tape and regulation, but we don’t want our urban streetscape and rural landscape looking like an advertising junkyard. It’s one of the many things we take for granted in the orderly, first-world, democratic, kind-of-capitalist and somewhat regulated place we call Australia.

So, those posters. There are two worlds that basically operate outside the law when it comes to outdoor advertising — politics and concert/event promoters, everything from rock’n’roll to the circus coming to town.

At least politics is seasonal. Many concert and other event promoters have a free-for-all in perpetuity, with posters defacing even state-of-the-art, designer utility poles. I would like to know how many millions of dollars councils and other public authorities spend scraping this printed graffiti off, only to make way for the next offering.

Without putting too fine a point on it, this is the black market of outdoor advertising. Political parties and independent candidates are the main beneficiaries. Political posters on public property are hardly at the heart of the trust deficit in Australian politics. But sometimes it helps to get small things in order before the deli owner asks the inevitable question: “Why can politicians advertise themselves freely on an electricity pole when I can’t put a sandwich board on the footpath advertising lunch-time specials?”

Look, despite my own self-confessed poster transgressions from the distant past, political parties and candidates, independents included, have a greater responsibility to lead by example. And that means by their election posters as well. 

Do you think election posters should be allowed to stay up during an election campaign? Write to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.